This Gilmer County, WV couple was charged with child neglect creating risk of injury after a barefoot 4-year-old girl wearing only a sweatshirt was found outside of a convenience store as temperatures dipped into the 30s.

Donald Lee Skinner, age 41, and Barbara Louise Wilson, age 39, both of Glenville, WV were arrested after the child was found Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at the Go-Mart in Glenville, according to a criminal complaint filed in Gilmer County Magistrate Court.

A Glenville police officer responded to the store about 7:00 PM after receiving a report about the child. A store employee spotted the child in the parking lot wearing only a sweatshirt with nothing underneath it, the complaint said.

The officer found the girl sitting inside the store eating pizza with a concerned citizen.

The girl told the officer that she was at home with her 12-year-old brother and left because she was scared, grabbed her cat and walked to the Go-Mart to get help, the complaint said.

Police said the girl walked down a long flight of stairs, crossed an intersection, walked across the bridge over a river and then crossed another intersection to get to the store.

Police said Wilson told them her mother is a diabetic and became ill, so she had her boyfriend, Donald Skinner, drive her three miles outside of town to go check on her.

She said she left the girl at home with her brother to watch her.

Wilson maintained they were gone only 15 to 20 minutes.

The children have now been removed from the home, and Child Protective Services transported the kids to a relative’s house.

Police went with a Child Protective Services worker to inspect the home.

They said they found trash and dirty clothes all over the residence and the downstairs was not heated.

The bottom part of the home smelled like cat urine.

The complaint also said they found an open pocket knife and prescription pill bottles that were accessible to the children.

Hi
This little girl is my granddaughter that we have not seen for nearly two years until we saw this on line Sieanna father is my son he passed away January 2010 on his little girls birthday.
And there mother has kept them hide from us.
We have contacted C.P.S several times before any thing happened like this when they lived in Braxton County could not get any help in any way about the children’s safety no one wanted to listen to us then she moved and we could not find the children they left no forwarding address. This little girl could have been abducted or serious hurt in the outcome.
Even after this happened they act like we have no say. No one that we have talked to about this will even return our phone calls.